258 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



country life. Our kind guide sent with us her son and 

 an Indian with his machete, and in half an hour we 

 were at the ruins. 



Soon after leaving the rancho, and at nearly a mile 

 distant, we saw, on a high elevation, through openings 

 in trees growing around it, one of the buildings of 

 Tonila, the Indian name in this region for stone hou- 

 ses. Approaching it, we passed on the plain in front 

 two stone figures lying on the ground, with the faces 

 upward ; they were well carved, but the characters 

 were somewhat faded by long exposure to the elements, 

 although still distinct. Leaving them, we rode on to 

 the foot of a high structure, probably a fortress, ri- 

 sing in a pyramidal form, with five spacious terraces. 

 These terraces had all been faced with stone and stuc- 

 coed, but in many places they were broken and over- 

 grown with grass and shrubs. Taking advantage of 

 one of the broken parts, we rode up the first pitch, and, 

 following the platform of the terrace, ascended by an- 

 other breach to the second, and in the same way to the 

 third. There we tied our horses and climbed up on 

 foot. On the top was a pyramidal structure overgrown 

 with trees, supporting the building which we had seen 

 from the plain below. Among the trees were several 

 wild lemons, loaded with fruit, and of very fine flavour, 

 which, if not brought there by the Spaniards, must be 

 indigenous. The building is fifty feet front and thirty- 

 five feet deep ; it is constructed of stone and lime, and 

 the whole front was once covered with stucco, of which 

 part of the cornice and mouldings still remain. The 

 entrance is by a doorway ten feet wide, which leads 

 into a sort of antechamber, on each side of which is a 

 small doorway leading into an apartment ten feet 

 square » The walls of these apartments were once cov- 



